Introducing two new innovative products for people with dementia

With around 750,000 people in the UK having dementia – a number which is set to double in the next thirty years – more and more of us are being affected by this heartbreaking condition. Often it falls to families to try and help and one of the biggest challenges they face is how to maintain meaningful communication with their loved one.

These innovative new products are here to help.

Pictures to Share and Mind Dice offer a way for the person with dementia to interact with their families and carers in a meaningful and enjoyable way. They can be used by families at home and also in care homes and are versatile and attractive tools to help families make the most of their time together.

Pictures to Share

Pictures to Share are beautiful, non stigmatising illustrated books for people with dementia and their carers to share together.

As the creators of the Pictures to Share books explain : ” For those with a family member in the mid to late stages of dementia, the problem of maintaining meaningful communication can be one of the biggest challenges they face.

Many family members find the Pictures to Share books prove to be a great help in prompting a range of different conversations. They can also provide those with dementia living at home or in care with an enjoyable way to pass the time and an effective way of interacting with different carers and family members.

“I bought the books for my father who has dementia.  Even though we have only had the books for a few days, they have already proved their worth!

My mother has found that the carers enjoy using them, and they really help the respite volunteers to break the ice.  My father enjoys the pictures very much – we all do!”

For more information and to buy Pictures to Share – In the Garden, CLICK HERE

Mind Dice

Mind Dice also aims to help people with dementia communicate with their carers. Prompts written on a 12 sided dice, enable the person to tap into their remaining memories provoking stories and responses that can be enjoyed by family, carers and friends.

Mind Dice has been designed and produced by John Sprange through his direct experience of caring for his father who had Alzheimers. John explains :”My father had a rich store of memories. ..When he died, aged 95, mixed with my grief was a sense of loss for my access to his personal connection to all those years he lived through. His eyes were in effect my personal witness to almost a whole century, and through this I had become an expert on what he knew.

In his later days, despite not recalling what happened 5 minutes before, he was able to recollect memories from long ago. Frequently he brought to mind events that placed him where he was happiest and at the height of his powers. Any repetition was often mitigated by the nuanced differences which emerged with the stories. They certainly showed his true sense of himself. I experimented with the dice, which carried, names of people, place and themes. He would sit rolling it in his hands, reading the prompts and saying. ‘This is my life’ with a sense of surprise.”

For more information and to buy the Mind Dice, CLICK HERE

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These two new products join our popular Many Happy Returns 1940s reminiscence cards designed by Sarah Reed as a result of fifteen years’ voluntary work with the charity Contact the Elderly and her mother’s experience with dementia over ten years

Many Happy Returns 1940s is a lovely box of 24 carefully researched reminiscence cards designed to get old and young talking together about how life used to be, helping them to celebrate their personal and family stories. The cards offer a range of everyday subjects with large images, historical information and conversational prompts – from cleaning the step to playing conkers, from evacuation to rationing, from playing in the streets to that very first kiss…

For more information and to buy Many Happy Returns 1940s, CLICK HERE